Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellĀ (R-Ky.) and President Joe Biden may come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, but that does not mean McConnell will paint Biden as a villain.
McConnell recently called Biden a āgood guyā ā a sentiment former President Donald Trump doesnāt share.
According to The Hill, Trump has tried to villainize Biden, saying he was the ācorrupt mastermind behind schemes to steal elections and persecute political opponents,ā per the outlet.
McConnell has endorsed Trump for president, but claims there are a slew of reasons why Biden should not be president.
āI know Joe Biden pretty well. Heās a good guy; I like him personally,ā McConnell said in Louisville Tuesday.
McConnell was referring to the more than 20 years he and Biden spent in the Senate and the deals they worked on when Biden was vice president.
Even though he may like Biden the man, he doesnāt like Biden the politician.
For example, he never believed Bidenās efforts to portray himself in 2020 as a moderate.
āI never thought he was moderate in the Senate, but he ran as a moderate,ā he said. āBut as soon as the president got elected, he pretty much signed up with the far left of the Democratic Party, which has created another set of a problem for all of you who are in business.
āThis has been a regulatory nightmare by this administration,ā McConnell said.
McConnell said thereās no need to tear down Biden on a personal level ā something Trump does regularly.
Trump regularly calls Biden āCrooked Joeā and has accused him of stealing the 2020 election, and taking drugs before the State of the Union address.
Al Cross, director emeritus of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky said McConnell may be sending a message to moderate Republicans.
These are Republicans who donāt like Trump but need to focus on the policy differences between the candidates instead of their personalities.
āWhat McConnell might be trying to do here is appeal to Republicans who really donāt like Trump ā just as he doesnāt really like Trump ā but maybe arenāt fully focused on the policy differences and would be more inclined to vote for Trump, given that stark contrast,ā Cross said.
McConnell said Biden can be defeated by focusing on how he is handling the economy and inflation, and his failure to stop the massive surge of migrants across the southern border.
